10cc Gizmotron - Did It Revolutionize Music?

History will be the judge 22-Nov-13

In a word, no.

But this was an early example of contemporary musicians getting into gear manufacture and invention, in this case of 1970's supergroup 10cc and their madcap Gizmotron. This was a project of Godley and Creme's doing, an auto bowing device, it could pluck a string up to 100 times per second.

A wonderful piece of rare footage from 1977 - enjoy.

I could only find print ads for the Gizmotron on eBay for sale - so my guess is they must be incredibly rare.

The first link also has an early ad for a "Gizmo Fingerthing", I have more ads but they're not on the site yet...

22-Nov-13 10:04 AM

DrK Said...

They broke. ALL of them! Took down mutron fx with it.

22-Nov-13 12:24 PM

Gizmotron.org Said...

Gizmotron.org is manufacturing new parts for gizmotrons and a new Gizmotron 2.0 for 2014!

Here is video of us playing a restored gizmotron: http://youtu.be/Ok4nGFhxAyI

22-Nov-13 01:57 PM

Scott McGrath Said...

Godley and Creme's 3-album Consequences was the demo for the Gizmo. It's got 2 disks of comedy from Peter Cook mixed in with some decent songs, and was a luxurious box in vinyl. The first disk is the "showcase" for Gizmo effects.

Jimmy Page plays it on "In the Evening."

24-Nov-13 06:20 PM

Peter K. Said...

Sounds like a Mellotron a little bit, don't you think?

25-Nov-13 05:55 PM

alphgman Said...

Uh... no.

28-Nov-13 05:18 PM

gridsleep Said...

10cc's homage to Herman's Hermits.

30-Nov-13 10:28 AM

vurnt22 Said...

owned 1 briefly in the 80's. I LOVED it when it worked!

01-Dec-13 07:09 PM

S R Dhain Said...

Im sure Jimmy page used it on the start of led zeppelin's "in the evening", which would make sense as to the timeline of when that was recorded and released. Or maybe it was just his usual bowing vibe, with a load of production on top. I've never gone beyond strumming chord sequences on an accoustic, which is in the corner of the lounge, but it'd be cool if it was remade and used in today's climate.